Foldit Puzzles

1916: MERS-CoV Binder Design: Round 4

Note: This puzzle was closed early due to a bug in the Contact Surface metric, and is reposted as Puzzle 1916b. Players may load solutions from this puzzle into the reposted version.

1916b: MERS-CoV Binder Design: Round 4

Note: This puzzle replaces Puzzle 1916, which revealed a bug in the Contact Surface metric. This puzzle lacks the Contact Surface metric, but players may load solutions from the original Puzzle 1916.

1915: Designable Linker: Coronavirus Spike Binder

This is the second puzzle in the designable linker series! We are providing parts of two of the best-known designed binders to the SARS-CoV-2 spike, and are challenging players to link them together with a rigid linker! The two helical bundles are the parts of the two binders. They are currently connected with a flexible alanine linker that needs to be redesigned. We have also included the parts of the actual spike that are within 20 angstroms of the termini of the helices on the binders, so you know what regions your binder has to avoid to prevent clashing. The designable helices are a possible starting point for your linker designs.

1914: Revisiting Puzzle 141: Rosetta Decoy 5

This is a throwback puzzle to the early days of Foldit. This protein helps to regulate oxidation in the cell; the starting structure is a model produced by Rosetta. This protein contains two cysteine residues, which oxidize to form a single disulfide bond. We are revisiting old Foldit puzzles so we can see how useful the recent additions to the game have been and to provide newer players with puzzles that are still scientifically relevant.

1913: MERS-CoV Binder Design: Round 3

Design a binder for the viral spike of MERS-CoV! This puzzle is similar to Puzzle 1910, except that the Foldit Metrics will award increasing bonuses as you improve the DDG, SASA, and SC of your solution. The Metrics are slow to compute and run in the background, so gameplay may be different from regular puzzles. See the blog for more info about Foldit Metrics.

1912: Designable Linker: Coronavirus Spike Binder

Note: Due to an error with the BUNS Objective, this puzzle was closed early and reposted as Puzzle 1912b.

1912b: Designable Linker: Coronavirus Spike Binder

Note: This puzzle replaces Puzzle 1912 which was posted with an erroneous BUNS Objective. Players may not load solutions from the original Puzzle 1912.

1911: Revisiting Puzzle 140: Rosetta Decoy 4

This is a throwback puzzle to the early days of Foldit. This protein helps to regulate oxidation in the cell; the starting structure is a model produced by Rosetta. This protein contains four cysteine residues, but in this state only two of them are expected to oxidize to form a single disulfide bond. We are revisiting old Foldit puzzles so we can see how useful the recent additions to the game have been and to provide newer players with puzzles that are still scientifically relevant.

1910: MERS-CoV Binder Design: Round 2

Design a binder for the viral spike of MERS-CoV! This puzzle is similar to Puzzle 1907, but now includes special Foldit Metrics for the DDG, SASA, and SC of your solution. These Metrics are slow to compute and run in the background, so gameplay may be different from regular puzzles. Each Metric has a target, players will receive a 1000 pt bonus for meeting each target. See the blog for more info about Foldit Metrics.

1909: Symmetric Tetramer Design: H-bond Networks

Design a symmetric protein tetramer, with 4 identical chains that assemble together! The H-bond Network Objective encourages players to build buried, satisfied H-bond networks at the interface between symmetric chains. H-bond networks are a great way to introduce polar residues at the interface, but it's important that all of the bondable atoms make hydrogen bonds! We've also adjusted the H-bond Network Objective so that poor-scoring H-bonds may not contribute to networks; poor-scoring H-bonds will be displayed in red. This puzzle uses the Buried Unsats Objective, with a large penalty for buried polar atoms that can't make H-bonds. In this puzzle, there are no limits on the Complex Core, but we've included the Complex Core objective so players can see the core residues that can be incorporated into H-bond Networks.